Hilda van Stockum (1908 – 2006) was an internationally noted author and illustrator of books for children and young adults. Her first books were published during the the 1930s, a period sometimes referred to as a “golden age” of children’s literature. Published by The Viking Press, these included A Day on Skates (1934) for which she took Newbery Honors, and The Cottage at Bantry Bay (1938), the first in a trilogy of books featuring the O’Sullivan family of Bantry Bay Ireland.